During the course of a single day here at the Imagery Group I will usually find myself discussing the difference between laser engraving and rotary engraving to customers when helping them choose a badge style. On a scary note, I often find myself explaining the same thing to my friends outside of the office who simply nod, smile and pat my head indulgently.
Still, there can be some confusion about what is involved with each style so I thought I’d try to give a quick tutorial on engraving!
Rotary Engraving
The standard engraving that we use on many of our badges is called rotary engraving. This method of personalization uses an engraving machine with a “bit” that rotates at a high speed, drilling through plastic to engrave each name. Rotary engraving is usually limited to several specific fonts and can be more difficult to see in a digital proof because the fonts do differ in look from their digital counterparts.
(Did I mention that actually setting up the rotary engraving machine and then running a badge order on it is really neat? I once filled in for one of our engravers and had a blast changing the bits, setting the depth and then running each different job.)
Rotary engraving is commonly used on a variety of materials including 2-ply plastic, acrylic, brass and aluminum. Our engraved badges and name plates use this type of engraving quite often.
Badge with rotary engraved personalization
Curious about how to identify a rotary engraved name? Here’s a tell-tale sign that you can spot if you know where to look. Check the ends of the letters. See all those rounded edges? That’s the mark of a rotary engraved name. Because the bits that are used to cut into the badges are round, they can’t ever leave a sharp edge to the end of a character.
Laser Engraving
Looking for a very specific font (such as my favorite, Comic Sans) or trying to match the font that’s in your MS Word or art program? Laser engraving is the way to go. The way laser engraving works is pretty self explanatory. A laser is used to cut through the very top of an item (with badges we use a laserable plastic that has a very thin top colored layer over the thicker bottom layer) and the personalizations are etched cleanly. Laser engraving can make use of the fonts you see in your art programs and text editing programs. If we don’t have the font we offer the option to match it as close as we can or you can send us the font files themselves.
We offer the upgrade of laser engraving on many of our 2-ply plastic badgesand provide a selection of laserable material for you to choose from. There’s also the bonus that certain logos can be laser engraved as well and we offer a badge style for those who desire that particular look.
Badge with laser engraved personalization & logo
The way to identify laser engraving is similar to the method described above for rotary engraving. Look closely at the edges of the letters. Are there sharp corners? Is the font one that looks very stylized? If so, you are most likely looking personalization that’s been laser engraved.
So there you have it! The quick-reference guide to rotary and laser engraving! Do you have a preference between the two for your name badges? Perhaps a favorite font? I’d love to know!
I just don’t UNDERSTAND I love Comic Sans!
I love it too! It’s probably one of my top 3 favorite fonts.